Terrible unsafe botched roofing job - next steps, help please me.

Lavender24

As briefly as possible - paid a roofer with good " CheckaTrade " reviews £17,500 for a replacement roof using artificial slates on an Edwardian cottage . Since completion ( end of May ) , what were a few small damp patches prior to the work, ( reason for new roof ), are now walls running water during rainfall , new major leaks have appeared including water collecting around electric plugs & light fittings,  and the open fire is unusable and dangerous due to an incorrectly fitted cowl. A professional survey during July and quotes from three NFRC registered roofers for remedial work has revealed a catalogue of horrors & health and safety risks ,all now recorded with accurate photographic evidence.... old lead cracked and broken but painted to look new, use of bitumen tape and mastic where the flashing should be set into the render, incorrect membrane, incorrect batten placement, no ventilation, some tiles stuck with mastic and already falling/fallen off, incorrect ridge tiles, tiles are short of guttering and water is running into walls, tiles protruding beyond guttering, batten ends protruding beyond walls, no insulation, black mold now a problem......the unanimous opinions are that the job is so bad  it must be redone from scratch! The surveyors quote " I have never seen anything like it , I can't believe what I'm seeing" .  Three letters &  2 1/2 months later ( the first dated 2nd August) , all asking for immediate action or refund due to the health and safety risks, the culprit still maintains he has done a good job ! One of his answers blames me for the bad work I should apparently have known it was wrong and stopped work - I'm a 74 year old female with bad health, living alone & unable to climb around scaffolding & I knew nothing about roofing, just relied on him to do a good job !
What should be my next steps, my daughter paid for the job with all her savings and I'm on just a state pension, there is no money left for an expensive legal fight, although I'm quite certain we would win.This is starting to affect my health now, & I'm frightened with winter approaching.
Do I now need an " Expert witness " report from a surveyor to proceed to court ? CAN I go to court now - he's had plenty of time & to be frank I couldn't trust him to do the work anyway. I believe the small claims court is only up to £10,000 compensation but may be the only action I can afford ?
Thank you for reading this, any advice / input as to my next steps is very much appreciated.

alleycat`

I'd start with your own insurance (if you have legal cover). They'd be best placed to advise you on what to do next.

Also do you have the details of his liability insurance?

Lavender24

alleycat  No I don't have legal cover on my insurance, I do however know who his insurers are the details are on CheckaTrade,  I hadn't thought of his insurance, thank you

FreeBear

Trading Standards may well take an interest - Have a chat with your local CAB office. They are unlikely to assist with recovering any money, so I'm afraid you'd probably need to go the legal route yourself.

tacpot12

You will need to send him a Letter Before Action before you can go to court (LBA). If you search the internet there are templates for this. You also need to offer to go to mediation in the LBA. I doubt whether mediation will be any help in this case.  

I don't think you need an expert witness yet. The court may tell you that you and the defendant need to find a single expert witness to act for you both, and you need the court's permission to provide any expert witness yourself.

The fact he has some insurance is good, but it may not cover him for the work he has done, so there is some risk that even if you go to court, you may be able to get anything  back, but that is probably a risk you need to take. I doubt his insurers will confirm to you what cover he holds, but you might get a friend to pose as a prospective customer and ask him to provide proof of his insurance cover.

I am inclined to think that you and your daughter should sue him jointly. You might find a local solicitor who will take the case on a No-win, No-fee basis so that you can take it into the Fast Track (this is the next level above the Small Claims track in the County Court). Effectively, you might get upto £7,500 of legal fees for free if the solicitor wins you £17,500 in the Fast Track and returns £10,000 to you. The risk is that you don't win, but if they are prepared to take on the case and the risk that you won't win, it would seem unlikely that you would lose. 

 

bob_a_builder

Don't think there is such a think as a bad Checkatrade review, is there ?

Ectophile

bob_a_builder said:

Don't think there is such a think as a bad Checkatrade review, is there ?

Of course not. If you're paying Checkatrade for a listing, you don't want bad reviews on it.